Holly Pyke
Holly Pyke
From Beads to Basketry
A Strawberry Basket by Pyke. Courtesy of the artist.
Holly Pyke (she/her) is a beadwork artist and basket weaver from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. Over the years, Pyke’s artistic practice has grown from the flat stitch beading she learned as a young girl to include raised beadwork, which is unique to the Haudenosaunee nations, and basket weaving. While she learned to bead long before she started making baskets, she is becoming increasingly known for her weaving. Although she learned to weave as a young kid in school, she didn’t start making baskets until about eight years ago. She laughs, thinking about the start of her basket weaving practice: “Well, I wanted a strawberry basket, and my mom knew how to make them, so I asked her to teach me so I could learn how to make baskets and make one.” As her two oldest children went off to college and her youngest went from playing three sports to one, Pyke had a lot more time to devote to working in a new medium.
Weaving sweetgrass baskets runs in the family. Pyke says, “I don’t remember my grandmother making baskets, but I remember her house always smelled like sweetgrass, so I guess they made stuff when we weren’t around.” In turn, she learned the basics of basket weaving from her mother, who is an accomplished artist in her own right, and is, as Pyke describes, “a perfectionist” whose baskets look “amazing no matter what direction you’re looking at them from.” Then, a community class taught by Carrie Hill helped her round out her knowledge with additional tips and tricks. Pyke reflects on her myriad teachers over the years in appreciation: “I think it’s really important when you’re learning a new skill to learn from a couple different people and not just one.”
Black Ash being peeled into splints after being pounded and pulled from the log. Courtesy of Eli Sagor.
The type of baskets Pyke makes are fancy baskets woven from sweetgrass and black ash splint. She usually buys splints off of local log-pounders, but last fall she and her husband went and harvested a couple of trees. They hope to start making splints from those trees soon. Pyke describes the process as quite labor-intensive: “Basically you’re separating your log into growth rings. So you take the one strip of growth ring all the way down and then scrape down the outside so it’s as smooth as you can get it. Then you wet it, and you take it and you split that. On the inside is actually where it’s smoothest and that’s what’s on the outside of the basket.”
As an artist, Pyke has a lot of plans on the horizon. Laughing, she says “I have all these ideas, but I don’t have enough time to try everything!” Right now, she is working on a website to expand her business and reach a wider audience. Her work has already made a big impact. Over the last few years, her work has appeared at the four biggest Native American art shows in North America including the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry, the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, The Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival, and the Southwestern Association for Indian Art’s annual Santa Fe Indian Market.
A beaded frame by Pyke showing her raised beadwork. Courtesy of the artist.
Pyke talks about how joining Bead Night led her to apply for these prestigious art shows: “I never would’ve applied to the Heard, well maybe I would have eventually, but someone threw the application in the Bead Night group chat, so I sent an application, and I got accepted. I was in shock for three days. And it was the same thing with the Autry and Eiteljorg and Santa Fe. If I hadn’t been in this bead group, I wouldn't have done those four shows, which happen to be the four biggest shows in North America for Indian art. So that’s kinda cool.”
Growing up at Akwesasne, Pyke learned to bead in the first grade from artist Elizabeth Francis. She remembers her teacher as having an incredible impact on the community: “I swear to god she’s responsible for teaching almost an entire generation of girls how to bead. Where would we be as a community without someone like that?” With an eye on the future of her own artistic practice, Pyke keeps an eye on the future of beading within her own family and community as well: “I did teach my girls how to bead, my son was not interested. Hopefully when they get more time, they’ll try to get better at it and keep with it so someday they can teach their kids or nieces and nephews how to bead.”
Artist Biography
I live and work on the Akwesasne Reservation. I have been beading since I was in the first grade, and I have been making baskets for the last 7 years. I first learned beading in school as part of our language class. Our teacher taught us the basics of beading and I've been learning other techniques ever since. When my youngest child cut down on his sports activities, I found that I had a lot of free time. I called my mom and asked her to teach me how to make baskets. I've been making baskets ever since.